Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Southwest Resuming Normal Flight Schedule Today After Week of Chaos; Putin Invites China's Xi to Moscow as War in Ukraine Drags On; New York Times Reports, Rep.-Elect George Santos (R-NY) Made $11,000 in Campaign Payments for Rent. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 30, 2022 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Top five brick wall defense that has -- have the (INAUDIBLE) to the stop Heisman finalist Quarterback Max Duggan for TCU.

[07:00:06]

They're playing in their first ever college football playoff appearance.

And then in the prime time, you have the Peach Bowl, a pair of Heisman finalist quarterbacks, number one, Georgia's Stetson Bennett and number four Ohio State, C.J. Stroud. He is the third in the nation with quarterback rating, has some of the best receivers to go out there. But the defending champs, Georgia, they have 15 players, Kaitlan, taken in the NFL draft, including five defensive players in the first round and they're still rolling, one of the best defenses in the country.

Of course, Kaitlan, we would be remiss if we didn't mention how most teams would love a trip to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, but you Alabama Crimson Tide not one of them probably. As you well know, your alma mater lost two games this season by a combined four points both on the last play of the game against Tennessee and LSU, and so they are going to miss that college football playoff. For just the second time ever, they're going to face BIG 12 champs Kansas State tomorrow, some of Georgia fans in our sports department told me to remind you that you can't spell Sugar Bowl without UGA. So, I apologize for that.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I've been to the Sugar Bowl more times than I can count on two hands. I spent a lot of time in New Orleans back in college.

WIRE: You can talk more trash than anybody.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: She was so annoyed that we were doing this Sugar Bowl situation in the show.

COLLINS: I'll be watching tomorrow. We kickoff at noon, it's fine. I actually love what Nick Saban said yesterday. This has been one of the most enjoyable non-playoff bowl preps that they have had. I mean, often, usually it is prep for --

HARLOW: That's one way to see it.

COLLINS: Yes.

All right, Coy Wire, we'll be watching. Roll Tide. Thank you so much.

WIRE: All right.

COLLINS: CNN This Morning continues right now.

HARLOW: A good Friday morning, everyone. We are so glad you're here. Don is off. Well, returning to normal, that's the hope. Southwest Airlines says it is resuming a full schedule after a week of mass cancelations as officials demand the airline must make things right.

COLLINS: Also in death toll, we are monitoring a -- in Buffalo, we are monitoring a growing death toll, where as cleanup efforts are under way after that catastrophic storm that happened, city leaders fear that the numbers will continue to rise, though.

HARLOW: Also, shutdown averted, President Biden signing the $1.7 trillion government spending bill. He did that while vacationing in St. Croix. He says it caps off a, quote, year of historic progress.

COLLINS: Also, big developments in Ukraine, where they say their forces have shot down 16 Iranian-made drones as Russia's attacks are intensifying. The U.S. is now scrambling to step in and stop Iran from providing these drones to Russia.

HARLOW: So, our top story this morning is Southwest Airlines saying it is resuming normal operations with minimal disruptions after they canceled more than 15,000 flights in the wake of this historic winter storm. Flight tracking site FlightAware shows the carrier only has 39 canceled flights all day today. That is a huge improvement. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg though has called the chaos all week, quote, unacceptable and says Southwest will face consequences if it fails to do right by the passengers that it stranded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The airline said to me that they were going to go above and beyond what's required of them. I'm looking to make sure they actually do that. And if they don't, we are in a position to levy tens of thousands of dollars per violation per passenger in fines.

I can't go in and fix an I.T. system for an individual airline failing to do its job, but as a watchdog, our department is going to do everything it takes to hold them accountable for their treatment of their passengers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Our Adrienne Broaddus is smiling, right, at Chicago Midway this morning. For the first time all week, it's better. ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is better. One traveler said things are flying, no pun intended. And this is the type of line travelers want to see, Poppy. They are waiting to check their bags, not find their bags, like we've seen all week, but they're checking their bags. Those bags will hopefully continue on to their final destination ahead of this final holiday weekend.

Over here, something else we haven't seen, the flight information board for departures on time, on time. A small delay here on flight 3224. It was scheduled to leave at 7:45 A.M. Now, it's a minute delayed. Another flight down here, flight 2064 was scheduled to leave at 7:40, about a 5-minute delay, now departing 7:45. And we see flights boarding now. So, this is incredible news for these folks who have been stuck and stranded.

I will tell you, I went downstairs to the baggage claim area and I did see on that flight information board five canceled flights, a stark contrast to what we've seen the last week where Southwest had more than 15,000 canceled flights.

[07:05:08]

Travelers who were impacted by all of this, Southwest is promising to make it right by reimbursing them for their expenses. Poppy?

HARLOW: The question is, how much. It's a big focus. We'll see. Adrienne, thanks, and thanks for your coverage there all week.

Ahead, we're going to take a closer look at the meltdown, what happened, can it be prevented next time? We'll be joined by Claire Taitte. She is an aviation consultant. Also she was former manager at Southwest Airlines.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, this morning, the death toll in New York's Erie County has risen to 39 people after that catastrophic blizzard we saw in recent days. A county executive is warning that, sadly, more deaths are expected as crews are clearing roads, conducting these wellness checks at cars that were either stranded or people who were stuck in their home. He's also now apologizing after he criticized the mayor of Buffalo for his storm response, saying that his emotions got the best of him.

CNN's Athena Jones is live in Buffalo this morning. Athena, what are we hearing from these officials as they are starting to clear up the roads behind you and really assess the damage from this storm?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kaitlan. Well, a lot of the roads have been cleared, as you can see. The temperature has already risen. Trash pickup is resuming today. The city hall already opened yesterday along with the courthouse. So, things are very much getting back to normal but not for these families who may still be missing loved ones still.

As you mentioned, the Erie County medical examiner has confirmed 39 dead but the Erie County executive, Mark Poloncarz, said that that number is almost certain to rise because there were several other bodies found. Whether in a house or outside, wherever they were found, they need to be autopsied and reviewed by the medical examiner to determine whether they were deaths caused by the blizzard. So, we do expect that to go up.

You also mentioned him apologizing to the mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, for criticizing him for a lack of engagement. He said that criticism was misplaced. He lost his focused and apologized. But the death toll is the one thing we're watching today here in Buffalo. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes. And as we're monitoring that and keeping an eye with the damage, it looks like, Athena, we're also -- one thing that has stood out about this storm is the stories that we have heard. We had Shekayra Otrione (ph) earlier this week talking about how she helped Joey White when he stuck in a snow bank outside her house in the middle of storm. And we're hearing so many of these stories. Have any of them stood out to you?

JONES: Sure. They call this the city of good neighbors and this is what this story represents. A mechanic, a guy named Jay Whithey (ph) was stuck in the snow at one point. He was trying to drive his car to help a friend, he couldn't make it there. Along the way, he had quite an adventure. He ran into one woman who almost ran out of gas, she joined his truck. They took turns sleeping that night.

Earlier in the night, he tried to go to at least ten houses offering up to $500 to let him sleep on the floor, all of them said, I'm sorry, they turned him away. So, he returned to his vehicle. He and this other woman slept overnight in that vehicle.

Eventually, they decided to break into a nearby school because he knew it would have bathrooms and heat and probably food. And so that's what he did by -- this was from Friday to Saturday. Early Saturday morning, he did this. Then he went out into the school's parking lot and he found a bunch of parked cars, a bunch of older people who were stranded in their vehicles. So, he said, all of you guys come into the school that I've broke into, and that's where they spent the rest of the blizzard until about -- it was evening of Christmas Day.

And he said, you know, if one of those houses had let me in, I wouldn't have had this opportunity to save so many lives. He said the ages ranged from about 26 years old to around 73. And he left a note in the end at the school and he said -- I just want to read this note. He said, to whomever it may concern, I'm terribly sorry about breaking the school window and for breaking the kitchen, got stuck 8:00 P.M. Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers just trying not to die. There were seven elderly people also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom. And he signed the letter, Merry Christmas, Jay.

And, of course, police said later that these people were stuck in areas where they just could not be reached. We know about all those emergency calls that went unanswered. So, this guy, this mechanic took it upon himself to not only save himself but save several other people. And, yes, he had to break into a school to do it but he apologized. COLLINS: I think Jay gets a pass for this one. Athena, thank you.

HARLOW: Well, new this morning, the leaders of Russia and China meeting virtually just a short time ago with Vladimir Putin calling relations between those two countries the best they've been in history. Putin also invited his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to Moscow in the spring after acknowledging a difficult international situation, that's a quote. Xi declared that China is, quote, ready to increase political cooperation with Russia.

So, this meeting comes as both leaders, both authoritarian leaders, face domestic crisis back at home, China facing a growing COVID outbreak following widespread protests as the pandemic enters a third year, and the war in Ukraine, which has not gone anywhere close to what Russia had anticipated.

[07:10:10]

Putin said the two nations intend to strengthen military relations. But it's important to note that while China has not condemned Russia's invasion and has not provided direct military support to Ukraine, this helped indirectly, though, by continuing to be a major purchaser of Russian oil.

This morning, The New York Times is reporting the Biden administration is working to stop Iran from making deliveries of these Iranian-made drones to Russia, which have appeared to have some U.S.-made parts to them. It's really critically important reporting.

Joining us now with more on all of this from, The New York Times White House National Security Correspondent David Sanger. We'll get to that reporting from you in just a few minutes. But could you just respond, David, to what is now going to be a spring meeting between Xi Jinping and Putin and what that could mean for this war?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, if there's one thing to watch for in the New Year, it is the nature of the relationship between Russia and China, and in some ways, the triangular relationship between Russia, China and Iran. This is one of the surprises of the whole war effort.

As you said before, Poppy, there was no evidence that China has entered into the war in a military way. And they were warned by the U.S. that if they did, there would be secondary sanctions on China that would further hurt its economy. But in every other way, every political way, they have come together. And mostly that is an alliance of convenience to frustrate the United States.

The Iran element is a new and different one. That's largely between Russia and Iran. China is not as big a player in that. But in that case, both countries were under severe sanctions from the U.S. and both countries see some considerable advantage in getting arms from each other that they're running short of. We know that the Iranians are providing the drones and the Russians are thinking about providing electronics components and maybe even fighters. COLLINS: And the context here, of course, is Ukraine is now saying they shot down 16 of these Iranian-made drones that they are giving to Russia. And you have fascinating new reporting about how the Biden administration is trying to step in to stop this ability to produce and provide these drones to Ukraine -- I mean, to Russia.

SANGER: That's right, Kaitlan. And there were sort of three elements to this. One element is going after the components themselves. And CNN did some very good reporting on this last week with Natasha Bertrand, and that is an effort to stop these American or western-made components from getting in.

The second interesting element of it, I think, is an effort to try to help the Ukrainians target the drones from where they're taking off. It's not easy because these are very mobile launch sites. You can launch some of these drones from moving around on trucks and launch them from a parking lot or a soccer field.

And then the third element is to provide the terminal defense right around the electrical substations and other infrastructure. The problem is, every time that you erect one of these anti-missile defenses around one of the infrastructure elements, you're giving up the chance to put that around a civilian location or an army base. So, it's a tough choice each time and they're in short supply.

So, that's the three elements of it, and, of course, suddenly we discovery that the Americans are talking about this with the Israelis.

COLLINS: Which is fascinating. But quickly on the aspect of running in short supply, what happens when Russia runs out?

SANGER: Well, that's an interesting question. When they run out of missiles, the question is, do they then turn to the Iranians and say, we now need missiles in addition to the drones. And on the drones themselves, they've used almost exclusively Iranian material, so that's why stopping the Iran supply is so critical.

HARLOW: I was fascinated by your reporting, especially not only how easily they can move these from soccer fields, parking lots, but also how hard it is for the Biden administration to try to stop it. I mean, you compared it to their attempts to stop Iran's nuclear capabilities. Can you speak, though, to what you just brought up to Kaitlan and I, and that is the Israel component?

[07:15:01]

SANGER: Sure. So, two parts of this. First, on your point, Poppy, it really is hard to cut off a country's components when those components dual use. They're used in commercial products, as well as military products. If we were good at this, the Iranians would not be building nuclear centrifuges now, but they're building them just as they were prior to the 2015 nuclear accord that President Trump left. So, if you can't stop the centrifuges, it's hard to imagine they're going to stop the drone production. They might slow it down.

The second part, the Israel part was really interesting. Last week, the United States and Israel had a quarterly meeting, security meeting, that's usually devoted largely to the Iran nuclear program. This time, for the first time, the U.S. brought up the Iranian drones. Now, the readout from the meeting, which was a classified meeting, did not say what, if anything, they decided to do together but we do know that Israel.

And the U.S. have a long history of working together on trying to sabotage or undermine the Iranian nuclear program. They did so, of course, famously ten years ago on the cyberattack on the nuclear enrichment site, the Israelis have done like other kind of sabotage work. And it would be interesting to know whether that became a subject of conversation. We don't know that right now.

HARLOW: David Sanger, thank you. I hope everyone reads your latest reporting on this. It's fascinating. Thanks very much.

SANGER: Thank you and Happy New Year to all of you.

HARLOW: Happy New Year to you too.

Next, what The New York Times found as they dug into Congressman-elect George Santos' campaign finances.

COLLINS: And what went wrong with Southwest? Why did they cancel thousands of flights? Obviously, that is the question passengers are asking. We are going to take a closer look at what happened behind the scenes ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back to CNN This Morning.

Scrutiny intensifies on New York Republican Congressman-elect George Santos after a New York Times article revealed questionable details now about his campaign finance forms and disclosures. Federal and state prosecutors are already investigating his finances and the loans he took out to fund his campaign.

Our Sunlen Serfaty has been tracking the developments. She joins us from Washington this morning. What have you found?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, there certainly are so many questions now on multiple topics that George Santos has not yet answered. And today, there's new questions about items found on his campaign disclosure forms that says his finances are also being formally investigated by federal prosecutors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHUCK LAVINE (D) NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY: We stand here today watching this slow George Santos train wreck take place.

SERFATY: New York Congressman-elect George Santos facing continued scrutiny after he admitted to lying about key parts of his biography. REP.-ELECT GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): Now, it's going to be incumbent upon me to deliver those results. And I look forward to serve --

TULSI GABBARD, FOX NEWS HOST: You're exactly right.

SANTOS: -- in serving my district.

SERFATY: The New York Times reporting late Thursday night details found on Santos' campaign disclosure forms. One of them is a company called Cleaner 1, 2, 3, which received $11,000 from his campaign and was listed as an apartment rental for staff. But the address listed is a home on Long Island, The Times reports, where neighbors say Santos and his husband were regularly seen coming and going, also reported dozens of expenses of $199.99, one cent below the amount at which federal law requires receipts. And travel expenses exceeding more than $70,000. It's not clear if the spending was allowed under campaign finance rules.

An attorney for Santos tells The New York Times campaign expenditures for staff members, including travel, lodging and meals are normal expenses of any competent campaign. The suggestion that the Santos campaign engaged in any irresponsible spending of campaign funds is just ludicrous.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Where and how did he get this money?

SERFATY: A source tells CNN federal prosecutors are investigating the finances of the incoming Republican congressman. Santos has faced questions over his wealth and loans totaling more than $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign.

In a 2022 financial disclosure, Santos listed a salary of $750,000 for the years 2022 and 2021 at the Devolder Organization, a family firm that was described as handling $80 million in assets. The firm, which was registered in Florida has no LinkedIn profile or website. It was temporarily deemed inactive by the state. But now records show that it was reinstated on December 20th.

SANTOS: I'm not a criminal. I committed absolutely no crimes.

SERFATY: In an interview with Semafor, Santos said he made his money through capital introduction and deal making for high net worth individuals.

HONIG: If you make a false statement about your assets or anything else that matters, that too could be a federal false statements crime.

SERFATY: The legal road ahead for Santos could be treacherous and there are already calls for him to resign from Congress.

JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR COMMENTATOR: There's going to be so much pressure on him to leave.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SERFATY (on camera): And as his potential legal woes mount for him, Santos has remained defiant, saying he still intends to serve in Congress. Republican leaders, Poppy, have remained silent as all these things continue to just stack up, of course, just one week before he is to be sworn in to Congress.

HARLOW: Will we hear more from Republican leadership is the question after the speaker vote? Sunlen, thank you.

SERFATY: Thanks.

COLLINS: Let's bring in CNN's Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein, who is also a senior editor at The Atlantic. Ron, every day it's something new, but what big questions do you have about George Santos beyond the stuff about how his mother died, where he was living, about the finances, the money seems to be the real point of scrutiny here?

[07:25:14]

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALOYST: Absolutely. I feel -- first of all, on the overall story, we're moving into the talented Mr. Santos level where, virtually, every aspect of the story that he's told, you know, unravels. And because of that, I don't -- I think the key point is that based on the amount of lies and deception we've already seen, there's no reason to believe we are at the bottom, right, that there are almost certainly going to be further revelations.

And the money, really, both where his resources came from, this radical increase in income and then these loans to the campaign, but also in this very detailed New York Times reporting, all sorts of questionable spending, a lot on travel and restaurants, a lot of campaign expenses put just literally one penny below the cutoff for what you need to have to provide receipts. So, there are a lot of questions where he was getting his money and what he was doing with it. And the Republican leaders haven't wanted to talk about this. It's hard to imagine that they can simply sweep it all under the rug.

COLLINS: Yes. And I should note that his attorney has spoken out. He said that they talked about the campaign expenditures, saying they were for staff. And he says, you know, the suggestion that the Santos campaign engaged in any irresponsible spending is ludicrous. But when you look at the numbers here, I mean, during his campaign, Santos spent $30,000 on hotels, $40,000 on air fare, $14,000 on car services. When you compare that to another Republican in New York who ran in the first district, they spent $900 on hotels, $3,000 on air fare, $900 on taxis. Just the discrepancy there is raising questions, I think, alone in addition to all of this.

BROWNSTEIN: And the question of where he was living. And the fact that all of this travel, you know, this is a campaign that claims it was largely self-funded through these loans. So, what exactly was all of that money going toward? And, obviously, the question is whether he was using campaign funds to, in effect, subsidize his day-to-day life. And, again, we haven't heard from any Republican leader except for Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has vociferously defended him and said, why aren't we talking about the way Democrats lied that Donald Trump tried to incite an insurrection on January 6th? Why are we talking about this? I mean, that's the vacuum that Kevin McCarthy has allowed to kind of exist by remaining silent.

But the fact that there are these local, state and federal investigations going on, meaning that whatever, I think, the new House Republican majority wants, ultimately, there are going to be a lot more revelations coming out here.

COLLINS: Yes. And I talked to some Republicans about this. They said, yes, you are seeing it being very quiet at the top but you're also not seeing a lot of people come out and back him because they have questions about his spending as well.

Ron Brownstein, thank you for your incite this morning.

BROWNSTEIN: Happy New Year.

COLLINS: Southwest Airlines resuming regular services today, they say, after a major meltdown left thousands of people stranded. Up next we have a closer look what went wrong, when are they going to fix it? We're going to talk to the former manager for Southwest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]